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Google Product View to recognize text in images
Google recently filed for a patent to protect a sophisticated search system designed to find text in images. The most obvious use of the the technology is to find text in pictures through Google Images, but that's just the beginning. Product View requires automatic machines to index the inventory of regular, walk-in stores. Consumers can search local stores or a specific location for rare items, preventing them from having to call individual stores and dealing with disgruntled 19 year olds. Google plans on integrating Product View with its other services including the company's advertising efforts and Google Maps.
[via Information Week]
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsThe_StevenJan 4th 2008 3:34PM
So you're saying Google Maps Street View will be expanded to cover the shelves in brick & mortar stores?
And to think folks were worried about invasions of privacy way back in 2006....
MysteriusJan 4th 2008 10:44PM
How does finding dairy products invade your privacy?
Unless you lived in a store?
mostroJan 4th 2008 11:26PM
I wonder if this technology could be used to read the distorted words that appears in the forms to prevent robots to fll the forms?
JamesJan 7th 2008 1:32PM
While I don't think this is likely to work out (they're going to have an army of employees constantly wandering up and down the aisles at Wal-Mart?), I have been waiting for some time to find a site that indexes the "buy in store" links found in a lot of brick-and-mortar stores' online counterparts. If I could just do a Google Product Search that had the option to limit results to "stores within X miles of ZIP Code YYYYY", that would be amazingly awesome. I would even be OK with a system that doesn't guarantee in-stock-ness; I don't mind calling to confirm. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to find e.g. a laptop battery or a specific pair of headphones without waiting for them to ship to me, and instead of going to one central price-comparison search engine, I have to think of all the stores in my area that might have them (Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, on and on and on) and search each one's web site individually. I would even be happy with a site that just spiders out to a limited set of stores and lets you select which ones to include with check-boxes.
So please, somebody, steal my idea and make some money with it. I'm too lazy to execute it and I don't have the business sense to turn a profit, but I desperately want it to exist so I can use it myself.